Still making the connections

Paul Swift is Research Fellow at the Foundation for People with Learning Disabilities. He has been involved in social policy research since 1985. His current work includes projects about individualised funding, social inclusion, partnership working between health and social services, fathers of children with learning disabilities and assessments under the mental capacity act. Here, he writes about the Foundation’s work on community connecting over the past decade. 

Some of us have long experience of working with people with learning disabilities, stretching back to the time of large institutions where residents and staff lived their lives separated from the rest of society. Many things have changed in the last quarter of a century and many of the most significant changes have happened in the last 10 years. We can point to the fact that more people with learning disabilities now live in regular neighbourhoods, use the same facilities as everyone else and express similar aspirations to the people around them; about getting jobs and having relationships, for example.

We have plenty of survey and research evidence, including people’s own accounts of their lives, to show how different the world is now compared to then, but it is harder to trace the causes of those changes. For example, did Valuing People reflect a process of change that was already under way, or was it the vital ingredient required to shift the attitudes and beliefs of those responsible for delivering support. However the process has been driven, it is apparent that the changes represent the translation of good ideas into practice, and this is something that takes time.

It is almost 10 years since we started its programme of work on community connecting. It is a good example of how we aim to research the things that affect the lives of people with learning disabilities and then use the findings to improve the support that they can expect to get.

Back in 2004 we teamed up with regular collaborators from the Norah Fry Research Centre at the University of Bristol to do a comprehensive review of daytime opportunities for people with learning disabilities in the UK. This showed us that far too much daytime support was being provided in day centres and other segregated settings. But it also highlighted some really innovative ways of providing support in other places, outside of day centres.

To find out more we ran a two-year action research project which found that people were particularly appreciative of support that helped them form new relationships and find valued roles. We could also see what it was that made this sort of support successful: workers with the right inter-personal skills and creative minds, active community mapping, enlightened management and the engagement of local groups and individuals.

Four years down the line we had a deep understanding of what good practice looks like, based upon sound research and development. To share this knowledge more widely we commissioned Clare Wightman to produce a guide to connecting people based upon her experiences at Grapevine in Coventry, one so the action-research sites. The book and accompanying DVD has been reprinted and become something of a best seller.

The latter stages of the programme have coincided with a period of recession which has meant that while most interested people recognise the enormous potential of community connecting to deliver great outcomes for people with learning disabilities, those organisations and individuals who provide it on a day-to-day basis have struggled to survive financially. It was for this reason that we spent some time concentrating on the business aspects of providing a connecting service, especially for those working in the voluntary sector. This meant giving advice and producing resources for people thinking about setting up a connecting service.

Our focus now is on helping support staff understand what connecting is about and how they can make it happen in their work. We have been doing this through workshops and by developing a practitioner hub to share ideas and solve problems. Most importantly, we continue to learn about people’s aspirations and how they can best be supported to achieve them. After 10 years the aim of the programme therefore remains the same: the translation of the ‘good idea’ of connecting people into practical effect.

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